Cliven Bundy Among Many to Speak About Western Property Rights in Northwest Montana

Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher now famous for a standoff with the Bureau of Land Management in 2014 was released from prison on January 8, and one of his first public appearances will be in northwest Montana. Bundy is among several guests invited to speak at an event put on by the Coalition of Western Property Owners (or COWPO). Cowpo co-chair Roxsanna Ryan explains the purpose of the event.

"What we see is the opportunity to bring to light the need for a revival among the American people for freedom and for property," Ryan said. "We feel that property is being taken from us, especially here in the west, by agencies of the federal government: by BLM, U.S. Forest Service, the EPA... and the list goes on."

Montana State Senator Jennifer Fielder (SD7) will also speak at the event. Fielder says she’s drafting a resolution that she hopes will spur an investigation into how the Federal Government has interacted with property owners in a number of recent cases.

"I've been doing a lot of homework on what happened to the Hammonds and what led up to these very heavy-handed charges being levied against them and I am going to be calling for a full and complete investigation of the government conduct related to the Hammond ranching family, the Bundy ranching family, and the Malheur protesters," Fielder said.

The COWPO speeches will begin at 5:00 p.m. at the old Paradise school gym. Shawna Cox, who was at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge standoff will also speak at the event, as will former Burns, Oregon fire chief Chris Briels, who stepped down from his position to side with the Bundy family during the occupation protest at the Malheur National Wildife Refuge.